If you plan to temporarily leave Japan during your stay and that you’re not a permanent resident of Japan, no matter what your visa is (working holiday visa, working visa …), you should get a re-entry permit.

This permit allows you to get back to Japan and keep your previous status (if your visa is not expired, of course).If you don’t have one, you will simply lose your status (and so the validity of your visa).

There are two kinds of re-entry permits :

-”Single” re-entry permit, which you can use only once. It will cost you 3000yen.-”Multiple” re-entry permit, for those who would like to travel outside Japan several times. This one costs 6000yen. You can use it as many times as you want.(The prices mentionned may change through years. Let us know if our numbers are not up to date!)

In order to get it, go to your closer Immigration desk with the following elements :-A valid passport-Money (3000 or 6000 yen depending of the permit you choose)-Your gaijin card (alien card)

You will also be asked to fill a form. Then you should get your permit immediatly.

Remember, you’ll lose your visa if you forget to get this permit, and there’s not much you can do if it happens. So be careful!

As promised, we’ll see in detail what is the Working Holiday visa, who can get it, how to get it.

WHO MAY APPLY FOR A WORKING HOLIDAY VISA?

This visa allows young citizens from the following countries : Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Korea, France, Germany, the U.K, Ireland and Denmark to stay in Japan for a maximum duration of 1 year.

The conditions of eligibility are the following :

-The applicant must belong to one of the countries mentionned above

-The applicant must be at least 18 years old and strictly younger than 31 years old when the application is made*

-No child under responsibility

-Possess a valid passport

-Possess a (recent) certificate of health

-Have enough financial resources. This factor depends of your country of residence. Generally, a minimum of 5000$ or 4000$ and a (round trip) plane ticket should be enough. It is also highly recommended to keep this whole money on a single account

-You should write a letter explaining your aims and goals (basically explaining why you chose Japan and what you are expecting from your stay)

-You should also write a document explain, the most accurately possible, the activities you plan to do during your stay : activity, location, price. Explain what kinds of jobs you’ll be looking for, how you will look for one, the trips inside Japan you plan to do ….

-IMPORTANT : You can get this visa only ONCE in your life. No matter how long you stay in Japan. If you’ve never got this visa and that your application is rejected, you can apply again as often as you want

*Concretely, you can apply for a Working Holiday visa until the day before your 31st birthday. Then, you’ve got a maximum of 1 year before you start using it. It means you can leave your country soon before your 32nd birtday and stay in Japan until a few days before your 33rd birthday

HOW SHOULD I APPLY?

You can get an application form by contacting or browsing the website of the Embassy of Japan in *your country*. Once filled, you will have to submit it IN PERSON.

NOTES

Even if you match all the criterias, your application may still be rejected.One factor can be the respect of quotas. There is, indeed, a limited number of visas per year, depending of the countries. This number may change through years and is reciprocal. (For example Japan->Korea quota is the same as Korea->Japan quota)

Even if your country may still deliver plenty of visas, we recommend you to prepare your application as seriously as possible.

This is it for now! If you have any questions or remarks, write it in the comments and we’ll try to update this post as soon as possible.Our next post will be about the re-entry permit. If you plan to visit another country during your Working Holiday, check it carefully!